The American Association of Colleges and Universities defines inclusive excellence as “the active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity – in people, in the curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, geographical) with which individuals might connect – in ways that increase one’s awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and emphatic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within systems and institutions.”

Campus Community

Students

Warren Wilson College’s Office of Inclusive Excellence is devoted to creating and upholding a culture on campus that is sustainable, and encouraging individuals to strive collectively and meaningfully towards intercultural ingenuity. We support students through the points where their ethnicities, genders, (dis)abilities, ages, sexual orientations, religions, and other identities begin or intersect.

Students have the opportunity to work on crews focusing on Inclusive Excellence such as the WIDE, Bonner, and Queer Resource Center crews. Students dedicated to civic engagement can grow in their advocacy and leadership as part of the Engage living and learning community in Sutton dorm.

Liaisons

Each unit (employee departments and student crews) at the college nominates an Inclusive Excellence Liaison. Liaisons are critical to the campus Inclusive Excellence process— working as the liaisons between the WWC community and the Working Group, they keep their units focused and on-schedule to complete their respective Inclusive Excellence action plans. They also attend monthly meetings with the Office of Inclusive Excellence to share updates on unit progress and to receive support and training related to inclusive excellence at WWC. The goal is for every unit at Warren Wilson College to be actively involved in fulfilling their Inclusive Excellence goals.

Frequent Events

• Beloved Community Lecture Series – Often we invite community leaders onto campus to speak to students on topics that impact our local community. 
• Heritage Month Programming – Throughout the year we create programming surrounding Heritage Months. 
• Lunch and Learn – These sessions are dedicated to educating employees about a variety of topics that impact the college and our students. 
• Tea and Talk – In partnership with the Global Engagement Office, the WIDE Crew hosts regular meetings where students drink tea and have relaxed conversations about culture, identity, and nationality.
• Intercultural Excursions –  The Office of Inclusive Excellence regularly takes students off campus to experience cultural festivals and events such as Blue Ridge Pride and the American Indian Heritage Celebration.
• Community Conversations – Community Conversations enhance our community’s awareness of the various perspectives present at the College while also offering an opportunity for participants to enhance their relational, communication, and developmental practices towards shared equity leadership and institutional wide capacity for fostering inclusive spaces.
• WIDE Anti Racist Book Club – Meets regularly to discuss books centered around anti-racism.

Identities

Race Ethnicity and Nationality

• There are a wide variety of Cultural Clubs on campus such as the Black Student Union, the Latinx Student Collective, the Indigenous Student Association, the Asian Culture Club, Worldwide Club, and the South West Asian and North African Alliance. These clubs host space for students of similar and different cultures to come together to celebrate different aspects of cultures.
• Global Engagement at Warren Wilson sends students around the world to learn and participate in the global community.

Gender and Sexuality

We’re dedicated to empowering everyone—across all sexual orientations and genders—to be their true selves and thrive in our community. Over 50% of our students identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The Queer Resource Center is a resource for students, faculty, and staff to learn and grow together. 

Religion and Spirituality

As we explore and make sense of our environments we also take account of religions, faith-based traditions, and spiritual systems used and practiced in various ways within our community. We seek partnerships in every unit of our campus to highlight these unique traditions. 

The Office of Spiritual Life is a major partner in our work in religion and spirituality. Spiritual Life exists at WWC to support students on their journeys of spiritual formation, faith development, religious exploration, vocational discernment, and social justice engagement. We seek interfaith dialogue, creating opportunities for cooperative, constructive and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs.

Abilities/Disabilities

Warren Wilson College strives to be in full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA of 2008), and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. We promote self-advocacy and equal opportunity through awareness, education and understanding of disabilities. The Office of Inclusive Excellence collaborates often with the Center for Academic Engagement around these matters. 

First Generation +

We are committed to advancing our support for first-generation college students by recognizing the achievements and raising awareness of first-generation college students as well as first-generation faculty, staff, and alumni. This includes an annual observance of the First Generation College Celebration(FGCC) and coursework throughout the academic year addressing questions of access and accessibility. We recommit to removing barriers to access– whether that is college affordability, classroom engagement, co-curricular experiences, or opportunities for career exploration.

Initiatives

• Student and Employee Recruitment and Hiring – We believe our community is best when a group of people from different backgrounds and cultures come together.
• Faculty Handbook Revisions –  A dynamic collaborative process to ensure that standards of performance are equitable.
• Policies, Practices, and Procedures – The 3 P’s of inclusive excellence guide us in developing approaches and processes to hiring for job searches, adjudicating grievances, and ensuring equitable access campus-wide.
• Campus Climate – Surveys are administered consistently to gauge our communities strengths and limitations as we strive towards inclusive excellence. 
• Space Allocation Committee – A working group of campus stakeholders catalogs and prioritizes space needs and allocation for the College. This process helps determine the best utilization of our physical buildings, spaces, and offices on campus.